NYSERDA’s US$6.3m funding for commercial development of energy storage technologies

Up to US$6.3 million in funding will support the commercialisation of emerging energy storage technologies in New York, from public benefit corporation NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research & Development Agency).

NYSERDA has just issued Program Opportunity Notice (PON) 3585; ‘Energy storage technology and product development’. Through the PON, the agency seeks “proposals to develop and field test innovative energy storage systems”, it said in the programme’s solicitation notice.

The latest opportunity is part of the state’s Reforming the Energy Vision (NY REV) scheme, the ambitious overhaul of New York’s energy networks, based around principles of grid modernisation and greatly expanding the share of distributed energy resources including solar, energy storage and demand response, in the overall energy mix.

NYSERDA said that while energy storage technologies have advanced in recent years, high hardware costs, non-optimal system performance and a lack of experience in integrating it into energy networks have proven to be among the technical barriers to widespread adoption.

Projects should focus on areas including: reduction of hardware costs – including balance of systems components such as inverters, improving performance in projects specifically tailored to meet New York’s needs such as better energy density and thermal stability for applications like EV charging and demand response in buildings, and field testing for new technologies for peak load reduction, solar and wind firming and ancillary services provision to the grid.

Applicants must submit concept papers with precise overviews of their innovative ideas, which will be reviewed by a committee. If passed by that committee, a full proposal submission will be invited. Would-be applicants have just over a month to apply, with concept papers due by 20 July 2017 for the first round. A second round closes on 28 December.

US$1.825 million will be committed by the end of this year with the rest to be committed by 31 December 2018. In April, NYSERDA also made US$15.5 million available for projects that demonstrate how energy storage can benefit a wide range of stakeholders and the electric grid. Funding for this and the latest awards comes from NY REV's Clean Energy Fund.